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Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Kryptonize Me

I didn't take a bunch of character classes at the conference. Not really sure why, but I think I was focused more on marketing and stuff this time around. But I did lead a group of five aspiring authors in a critique group setting. During this intense time, we received a mini-lesson on characters.

And I heard something that stuck with me. The presenter, Annette Lyon, gave a lesson on protags.

She said, "Even Superman had his Kryptonite."

*insert a-ha moment*

I've heard it before. Your protag can't be perfect, they need flaws, blah blah blah. But you know how you just hear the right words in the right order and suddenly everything clicks into place? That's what happened here.

So when you're developing your protag, remember that they need their own brand of Kryptonite.

What do you think? Have you given your protag some Kryptonite? Has it made them stronger? More believable? More relatable? How so?

81 comments:

I write memoir and so it was really important for me to let the good and the bad shine through. the flaws are what makes people want to read on. I love that thought about the Kryptonite. I have a heap of it, yeah.

I have those, seemingly delayed, A-HA moments all the time. So much is swirling around in my brain that I'm not always paying attention to any one thing at a time. I have to force myself to focus. Writer conferences do that, I'm guessing. Saving up for one this summer.Anyway, my protagonist's main flaw is that she avoids/runs from nearly everything until she realizes this only delays the inevitable of dealing with things. The main theme of the story is self-discovery/growing up/facing your demons, etc. Her other flaw is not being able to resist not one, but two, handsome young men.

I love this. It's tue of all the best characters. The nature of their weakness can be so revealing and make characters so much more likable. The guy character who can't leave a buddy behind, even if it means risking his own life. The girl whose romantic nature leads her into a dangerous relationship with a stranger. These are cliches, but they prove the rule ...

Yes! I heard this from an agent back in January who'd requested a full from me. She liked my manuscript, but warned me my protag was too perfect. I listened to her, because the woman knows what she's talking about, and my manuscript was so much better for the small changes I made. Woot!

I think I over-developed my secondary characters and it is making me lose sight of my MC. She has nightmares about her childhood, but other than that, she just supports the two screwed up men she has to choose between.

Hmm, you've really given me something to think about with this question. My novel centers around emotion and culture. My character has growth, but not a lot of action.

I'll be inserting this line in my first novel. Can a novel be sellable with personal growth as its focus?

Now that you have your novel ready for sales, I think its great you're focusing on marketing. My last conference I went to I did the same. That was like learning a new language from the natives. Confusing but interesting.

My MC has a "quantum quirk" that allows him to do improbable things, but it comes with a physical cost.

It's very hard (at least, for me) to develop a character with a good balance of strengths and weaknesses. Sometimes, in the interest of showing a character arc, I focus too much on the weaknesses at first, and that makes my character unlikeable.

It definitely makes a protag more relatable and real. My female protags all have flaws. I just have to remember to give my male protags flaws - it's too tempting to want to write the "perfect" guy. Ha ha! ;-)

I tend to give my protags big, looming mounds of kryptonite, but they aren't out there for all to see. One Protag seemed so perfect I thought, Ugh, nobody will relate to this Goddess... but after I figured out her own pockets full of kryptonite (I love that song, Spin Doctors) I relaxed. They made her totally reachable. I hope.

Lately I've read a number of books where the female protagonists DIDN'T have any flaws... it drove me absolutely nuts. How can a reader relate to someone who's perfect in every way? That's not even close to realistic. 'Kryptonite' is absolutely essential for crafting a believable story!

Definitely something I learned from book number one - my protag had everything too easy. Too perfect = unlikeable. Flaws bring characters to life. My protag from book number two is much more real to me - all because she has flaws.

Flaws are sometimes hard to write because you want your character to be strong, competent, brave, and so on, but it's pointless if they have nothing to overcome. They're not believable without some weaknesses, not to mention boring. I like the kryptonite analogy. Very effective.

This stood out to me also and I completely agree. Although I think I swung in the opposite direction too much and made my MC hated. Fixing it now, and thinking about the fact that one of the other characters in my book seems to be perfect. I must come up with a flaw for him.

I've been thinking about this a lot lately. Just the other day I did something really awful to main character to prove to her she's not all powerful and invincible. Made me sad but it was necessary. Great post!

Creating characters is my favorite part of writing, and I actually enjoy making them flawed. I think some of the best flaws come from the flip side of a strength. For example, my character Jess is tenacious and self-sufficient, but those traits also make it almost impossible for her to ask for help or trust others.

I also totally enjoy taking a bad guy and giving him good traits. I love to mess with a reader's head, suckering them into re-thinking their hatred or distrust of the character.

This is a great reminder, and I think you're hit the nail on the head--characters (specially nowadays it seems) need to have flaws. Even in Pride and Prejudice, Lizzie had all kinds of flaws, starting with the aforementioned prejudice. Thanks for posting this and sharing this with everyone.

Hmmm, great question. I think both of my mc's kryptonites would be in their lack of ability to trust - although it comes out differently in each character. Anger in one, fear in the other would be close seconds.

Every hour there were at least three workshops I wanted to attend! Too many choices! I did a lot of the marketing ones, too, but you always wonder while you're sitting in one class what you're missing in the others . . . :-)

The Kryptonite for my undead Texas Ranger is not his need for the life energies of others, not his life-long enemy, not even his refusal to bend to the changing times.

It is love.

His love for the mysterious woman who completed him, then deserted him for reasons unknown. Her loss hits him somewhere beneath speech and beyond the grasp of his reason. He is a ship with a broken compass, not seeming to be able to find his way anymore.

Every character needs at least one flaw. A quirk or two is nice too. If a character has powers, there has to be a kryptonite. What's the point if s/he's invincible? Where's the tension? How will s/he be relatable? Even Voldemort, who seemed nearly invincible in the last few books, had a weakness.

my current MC is so tortured I don't know what to do with her sometimes. She's vulnerable, melancholy and twisty but I think she's going to surprise me and harbor some real strength after I'm through with her.

I know I'm cruel for putting her through so much. I'm a glutton for punishment.

my current MC is so tortured I don't know what to do with her sometimes. She's vulnerable, melancholy and twisty but I think she's going to surprise me and harbor some real strength after I'm through with her.

I know I'm cruel for putting her through so much. I'm a glutton for punishment.

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